Written by Simon Pegg and
Doug Jung, based on the television series Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry.

GRADE: A-

REVIEW:

Okay, NOW we have a summer movie. After several lackluster summer
film offerings, both in box office and critical response, we now have a
certified action movie that might gain a little footing. Star Trek Beyond is the third film in J.J. Abrams’ rebooted
franchise that began in 2009 (he turned over the director’s chair to Justin Lin
in order to throw his main resources into the Star Wars reboot, while keeping his producer status). Abrams has
bucked a few trends in his reimagining of Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi opus: new
realities, altered time/space continuum, and insertion of 21st
Century cultural norms into a universe created in the 1960s. Will Star Trek Beyond save the summer?

The regular cast is back, including Chris Pine as Captain
James Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Karl Urban as Bones, Zoe Saldana as Uhura,
Simon Pegg (who co-wrote the film) as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu and Anton
Yelchin as Chekov. The new baddie is the ridged-faced Krall (Idris Elba), who
attacks the Enterprise near an uncharted planet and captures most of the ship’s
crew, using a swarm of killer fighter ships. He’s after a part of an old
doomsday weapon that Kirk is hiding, which he intends to use for universal
domination and destruction. After Kirk, Chekov, Bones, Spock and Scotty escape
Krall’s forces, they discover and ally in Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), an alien
whose been stranded on the planet after Krall attacked her ship and killed off
her family. Jaylah’s hideout is the U.S.S. Franklin, an old Federation ship
that crash-landed hundreds of years before, mostly intact. When the free
Enterprise leaders finally pool together, they plan an attack on Krall’s base,
where he is holding the rest of the crew (including Uhura) hostage, Krall is
able to stay alive by sucking the live energy out of the captives. The plan
also includes resurrecting the Franklin and flying back to Yorktown, a
deep-space Federation space-city where millions reside. They hope to thwart
Krall’s attack with his new doomsday weapon (he found hidden on an Enterprise
crewmember) by their wits and a lot of luck.

Star Trek Beyond
is a very good sci-fi action thriller. That’s the good news. The bad news is, it’s
quite clear that the rebooted franchise is beginning to suffer from a bit of fatigue.
Case in point, Kirk’s main struggle is overcoming the boredom and bureaucracy
of space exploration, while Spock is still torn between duty to his
crewmates/friends and his Vulcan heritage. It’s not exactly the
universe-shaping mission we got in the other films. Another small gripe I have
with Beyond is what seems like an alteration of character traits you’d come to
expect from the crew of the Enterprise. For instance, the skirt-chasing Kirk is
now all business (that wouldn’t be PC); Spock is given to more than the
occasional display of real human emotion (we got rage in Star Trek and Star Trek Into
Darkness, we get more tears this time). There’s also the revelation that
Sulu is gay. Now, before you stamp Yours Truly with a homophobe scarlet letter,
let me explain that this nitpicking has nothing to do with depicting diverse sexuality
in films (which is fine), and more to do with straying from Roddenberry’s
original blueprint (the original Sulu, George Takei – who is gay - agrees with
me on this). In other words, it seems that Abrams, Pegg & Co. are trying a
little too hard to make the Star Trek
cinematic universe culturally acceptable by modern norms, rather than sticking
with great character chemistry and awe-inspiring tales of space exploration at
its roots. Again, the PC alteration isn't a deal-breaker in my decades-long love of Star Trek; it's just a little distracting is all.

A decent villain coupled with plenty of action and humor
tend to gloss over such sundry Trek quibbles, not to mention an interesting new
character in Jaylah.

I really enjoyed Star
Trek Beyond as summer escapist fare, but I don’t think it adds a lot to the
overall Star Trek universe.

Sad note: Star Trek
Beyond is the first Trek film made since the passing of Leonard Nimoy, and the
last appearance of Anton Yelchin as Chekov, who was killed last month in bizarre auto
incident. Both actors are given due respects in the end credits.